My Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease Experience

I did tell you I had hand, foot, and mouth disease recently, didn't I? A miserable little virus that is. Have you ever known someone with it? Most people have told me they've never known someone that has. Hello, my name is Julie. Now, you have. My five year old must have had it in a much less severe way, thank goodness.

Warning: I am sharing my story with you and that includes rashy photos of my hands and feet. They may be too yucky for you. You have now been warned. lol

It started out with an intensely high fever for me. 103.3 is where it hit at its highest point I think. Then, my fingertips were highly sensitive to touch and heat. They felt bubbled at the tips and sort of numb.
The next day I started getting these.

These little red dots. Itchy little demons. My hands and fingers itched and burned. Nothing seemed to relieve it. Then, it happened to my feet. Like this. 

This was not the worst of it. Taking photos was, not surprisingly, low on my list. My mouth and throat had some. I was also one of the "lucky" ones to have them all over my scalp. All over. More itchiness and pain.

Within four to five days the rash was beginning to fade a bit. Why? My awesome friend Mandy brought something by the house for me. It was olive oil mixed with tea tree and thieves oils. I began using it quickly and I know it helped. It started helping with the itch and new spots overnight.

My finger tips began feeling numb and sort of had this hard bubbled feeling to them. I can't quite explain it. They started peeling which relieved those feelings but didn't look so great.  Well, that just got worse.

The amount layers of skin that was peeling off at once was insane. It was thick and the skin underneath was still quite red and sensitive. My skin now (almost a month later) is still peeling though not as bad as the above photo. I got a bunch of little white blister like spots that all peeled. 

Recently, I noticed my daughter's nail had cracked and lifted width wise. She said it doesn't hurt. My nails have started showing some strange characteristics as well. Apparently, we got a very bad strain of HFMD which can lead to these issues. I think I might lose at least one nail but we will see. Below are pictures of my hands right now. 

I am so glad to be nearing the end of this illness. It was so miserable. I'll just say it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I'm so thankful that Abby didn't get these really bad aspects of it. She had the fever, a couple of red bumps, a little peeling, and now the nail issue. 

**Update: It is April 2014 and I am nearly at the end of my experience with this. Thankfully. I ended up having about 6 fingernails grow out from the cuticle with no nail behind it and a new one under it. So odd. They are back to normal now. My feet peeled as bad as my hands did and I had a few toenails do the same as my fingernails. One is still not quite done growing out. I've heard Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease is worse for adults and I would agree.**

Have you ever met someone who has gone through this?